Political Dig

During an explosive CNN debate late Tuesday night, CNN anchor Don Lemon told conservative commentator Matt Lewis to “shut up” over what constitutes a “mob” in light of Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and his wife being chased out of a restaurant.

The discussion came hours after anchor Brooke Baldwin tangled with Lewis and fellow CNN contributor Mary Katherine Ham over whether protesters should be labeled as a mob, with Baldwin telling both she wanted to “move past the ‘M’ word” because it is “part of the weaponization of what’s happening now on the right.”

Lewis was invited on Lemon’s show, “CNN Tonight” to continue the conversation, where the conservative columnist made the point that the Tea Party “didn’t hound people out of restaurants” as was the case with Cruz last month or Homeland Security Kirstjen Nielsen over the summer.

“The Tea Party did hound people. The Tea Party people hounded me when I went out to cover them!” Lemon shot back. “And do you know what I said? It was their right to do it because they’re Americans!”

“Don, if they started following you around a restaurant and running you out of places…” Lewis replied.

“But that doesn’t mean that people don’t get to object,” Lemon interrupted. “That’s your right as an American to object. It’s covered in the First Amendment. It’s like the first one!”

After some extended verbal volleying over the proper definition of a mob, Lemon lost his patience.

“You can do whatever you want. You can leave the show if you want,” Lemon replied.

“I’m not going to do that,” Lewis assured.

“Shut up and let me do it,” Lemon said.

“Thank you very much,” the anchor continued. “In the Constitution, you can protest whenever and wherever you want. It doesn’t tell you that you can’t do it in a restaurant, that you can’t do it on a football field. It doesn’t tell you that you can’t do it on a cable news you can do it wherever you want.”

“To call people mobs because they are exercising their constitutional right is just beyond the pale,” Lemon concluded before going to break.